Nayr's Core5000 deck (Frequency Dictionary of Japanese)

Well the English translations have always been "meh" in my opinion.


You are correct with your translation, however この鍋はミルクを温めるのに使っています。 can have two possible translations.

The 使っています indicating you are using the 鍋 in order to warm milk right now.

or

Use the 鍋 'as a habit' or 'on a regular basis' or in order to warm milk.



Here is a bit of an explanation as to why (Genki 1, 2nd edition, page 170.) :

You can also use a ~ています sentence to describe what a person does by occupation or by habit. The example below therefore has two possible interpretations: 1. you are teaching English right at this moment; and 2. you are an English-language teacher (but are not necessarily in class right now.)

The second example sentence means Mary is in the habit of studying Japanese (but of course she does not spend 24 hours doing so.)

Example sentence 1. 私は英語を教えています。
Example sentence 2. メアリーさんは毎日日本語を勉強しています。

Or

メアリーさんはTシャツを着ています。 It can either mean "Mary is wearing a T shirt right now" or "Mary wears T shirts." (on a regular basis).

Thats my understanding of it anyhow.